


Two Weeks

by loveofsound



Category: DC Comics, justice league international
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:52:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveofsound/pseuds/loveofsound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Booster's an old child actor and Ted doesn't recognize him. Of course Booster isn't going to let that slide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Weeks

Booster couldn’t believe it. The guy behind the counter had actually asked him his name, as if he didn’t recognize him. Booster Gold, the famous child actor from the 90’s. For a moment Booster had thought the man was kidding, making a joke because of all the actors that came in and out of that particular Sundollar, but when the man continued to stare at him blankly with his sharpie poised above the cup, he realized that this man genuinely did not know who he was.

“Oh! Uh, Booster.” He had thought that maybe saying his name would spark recognition because he had, after all, aged since his time on television, but the man merely scrawled the name, gave him his total, and moved on to the next customer. And sure, Booster hadn’t really done anything since the show went off air, but it was everywhere back then! He had been in magazines, they did crossover specials with other popular television shows, there were lunch boxes for god’s sake! How could this man have gone his whole life without knowing who Booster Gold was? 

To say it put a damper on his day would be both an under and an over statement. On one hand, his ego took a bit of a hit, being so used to people recognizing him and asking for autographs and pictures. On the other hand, the anonymity was nice. He had been involved in his fair share of scandals, both real and totally fabricated by sensational journalists. Part of him enjoyed being treated like another one of the millions of people that lived in the United States. Part of him, the vain part, was still a bit miffed. 

He went to the same Sundollar the next day, never mind that the day before had been a fluke, that he would have stopped at the Sundollar at the end of his block if it hadn’t been so busy. Not, he assured himself, to see if maybe one of the other employees had recognized him and told his barista who he was, but because this store was the closest to the studio and he found that he liked arriving with his coffee still hot. The man was there again, but still no recognition. In fact, he had to ask Booster’s name again, having forgotten that he had been there at all! And ok, yes, there were probably hundreds of people in and out of the coffee shop everyday on the man’s shift, but still! Booster thought himself pretty charismatic, definitely good looking, certainly someone who would stand out among the droves of under caffeinated public the barista saw everyday, and yet the man stood again with his sharpie and his expectant look. 

“Booster.” He had hoped that maybe the unusual name, because he was aware it was an unusual name, would make the man go ‘ah! right, you were here yesterday!’ but he didn’t. He scrawled his name, gave him his total, and moved on to the next customer, just like the day before.

The next day was deliberate; It was personal now. It wasn’t even about not being recognized as an actor anymore, but about not being recognized at all. Booster’s therapist would likely say that it was his narcissism demanding he be recognized, or his insecurities over being unimportant and disposable that drove him to go the the shop again. Booster would tell his therapist to shove it. In all honesty, he wasn’t even sure if the man would be working again, but he was, and Booster squared his shoulders, stepped up to the counter, gave his most brilliant toothpaste ad smile, and gave his order. 

“Name?”

Booster’s smile faltered for just a second before he corrected it and said “Booster” in reply. And the man across the counter scrawled his name, gave him his total, and moved on to the next customer, just like the day before and the day before that. 

Standing in front of his closet the next morning he contemplated wearing something completely outrageous. Perhaps if he wore something unusual, he’d be easier to recognize the next day (because Booster knew he’d keep going until the man behind the counter didn’t have to ask his name before he wrote it on the cup), but the idea of being caught in public and possibly photographed wasn’t a pleasing one. Although, if the photos were then printed in a magazine, maybe the Barista would see them and recognise the man in the pictures as the one who came in everyday...In the end he decided against it, instead wearing jeans that fit him like an incredibly expensive glove and a soft blue sweater that brought out his eyes and was just this side of too tight. Topping it all off with a slim fitting leather jacket he studied himself in the mirror, satisfied that if the man didn’t recognize him today, he certainly would tomorrow.

He scrawled his name, gave him his total, and moved on to the next customer, just like the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. 

On the fifth day, Booster was confident that his outfit the day before was enough to cement him the barista’s mind. He was absolutely positive he saw the man’s eyes checking him out while he was waiting for his coffee, so he was sure that he’d walk up to the counter and the man would give him a smile and say “your usual, Booster?” Or maybe “Hey Booster! I’ve already got it started, I saw you come in. How are you?” Maybe even “Booster! Why don’t you take your coffee and have a seat over there at that table? I have a break in about 15 minutes.” Instead, he just scrawled his name, gave him his total, and moved on to the next customer. Except! Triumph! This time Booster CLEARLY saw the Barista (he really needed to learn his name) checking him out, both while he was taking his order and money, and while he was waiting for his drink. 

The next two days were apparently the Barista’s days off, since when Booster walked in there was another man at the register. Still, he couldn’t just turn around and walk out, it would look weird for one and he really did want his coffee, so he ordered his drink anyway and was pleased when he was recognized. 

The next week started out largely the same; Booster would go in, be as charming as he possibly could, but Ted (as he found out when he finally remembered to look at the man’s name tag) still asked for his name. Instead of going straight out the door, though, he decided to start bringing his laptop and sit in one of the tables near the register, answering emails and blogging while simultaneously checking Ted out every now and again. Over the course of his three days of observations, he learned that: Ted seemed to be really friendly with his coworkers, and even the customers when the place wasn’t too busy, he had either worked in the shop long enough to learn every single song they played on their radio station or just knew every single song on the radio and he was prone to singing in slower times. He was also tone deaf. If his conversation with his coworkers was anything to go by, he was doing something science related or possibly robotics? Booster was sure he heard someone mention something about a robot, or a skeets, or was the robot named skeets? He had a very nice laugh, and Booster’s absolute favorite discovery was that Ted would look over at him too every once in a while. Thursday, though, was another matter. Thursday was the day Booster walked in, gave his order, and Ted immediately wrote his name on the cup without even asking. Success! Almost two whole weeks of hard work had paid off, and the barista had finally remembered who he was! He could finally go back to the store he usually went to, which was much more convenient when he didn’t have to be at the studio. 

Friday, he went back to his store and was greeted with a “Booster! You’re back! We missed you!” from Tora and “I started scanning the papers to see if you kicked the bucket!” from Guy, and it was nice, of course, like it always is when you know you’ve been missed, but he found he missed seeing Ted behind the counter. He sat down at the table that, except for these past two weeks, he had used almost everyday for two years to start answering emails, but he instead found himself looking up movie times.

“So where were you? You’ve never been gone for two whole weeks unless you’re out of town, and you usually tell us if that’s the case.”

Booster shrugged apologetically at Tora. “I hate to admit it but I was cheating on you.”

“No! Another Sundollar, Booster? Which one? Was it the new one they just built right next to the water park? Please say no, I hate their manager.”

“No, no, not that one. Just the one next to the studio. You guys were super busy last week so I stopped at that one instead.”

Guy leaned over the counter to be heard over the music. “And you kept stopping at that one? What, was there a hot chick at the register?” 

“Come on, there’s no Sundollar employee in Gotham prettier than Tora.” He winked as Tora blushed and got a wet rag in the face from Guy to show for it. “No, I just realized I liked walking into the studio with a fresh hot coffee.”

Tora leaned forward conspiratorially. “Was it an attractive man?”

“Ok, you two, enough being nosey. Seriously, a man can’t decide to visit another coffee selling establishment without you two getting all up in his business?”

Tora grinned and straightened up, going back to her work behind the counter. “Two weeks is a long time for you Booster. You should ask them out.”

Booster rolled his eyes but agreed, which was why he was looking up movie times in the first place. His plan was thus: go into the other Sundollar when he knew it would be the slowest, casually ask Ted when he got off work, mention a few movie times that corresponded, and then take him out. Maybe they’d have time to grab dinner, or maybe they’d stop at one of the all night diners that were everywhere. It was a foolproof plan, he was sure of it, and he walked into Ted’s Sundollar a few hours later full of confidence.

“Are you stalking me?” That had not been the greeting Booster had expected. He hadn’t even had time to ask Ted a thing; he walked up to the counter, trying to decide whether he wanted to order his drink first and then ask Ted when he got off or just go ahead and ask right away when that bomb was dropped.

“What? Not exactly, no. What?” Booster realized he didn’t sound quite as eloquent as he normally did, but then he wasn’t normally accused of stalking people.

“Not exactly, so you kind of are.”

Booster wanted to say something, but all he could manage was a series of faces that he hoped said ‘I don’t know where this is coming from please explain’.

“One of my coworkers told me who you were, and said it was weird you’ve been coming in everyday because she knows you have a usual store, and when she pointed you out to me I noticed you sit at that table” Ted pointed to the table that Booster had been sitting at for the past week, “and you stare at me. So, are you stalking me?”

Honestly, he hadn’t realized he’d been that obvious when he was checking Ted out, and he was surprised when he heard a very feminine and very familiar voice say “Oh yes, he’s definitely stalking you.”

“Bea? So this is where you transferred to?”

She grinned, draping herself over the pastry case. “Missed me?”

“Less than Tora, more than Guy. Why are you spreading terrible rumors about me?”

“Hunny, I watched you sit at that table and I had to mop the drool up off the floor. Unless it was me that had you gaga, and your surprise at my employment here rules me out, I’d say Ted that caught your eye.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice you!”

Bea laughed. “I can.”

“Guys, while this reunion is adorable and all, you haven’t answered my question. Stalking?”

Booster shrugged. “Not...exactly. See, you didn’t know who I was the first time I came in, which was surprising, and so I decided to come in the next day to see if maybe you just...didn’t get a good look at me or maybe somebody told you who I was after I left. Except you didn’t remember me the next day, and so I kept coming back because...I guess I...wanted you to remember me…that does sound a lot like stalking, but that’s not what I meant to do!”

Bea crossed her arms and smirked. “See? I told you he’s narcissistic.” Booster shot her a glare as Ted laughed. 

“Ok, so yes, that sounds a bit self centered. But whatever she’s been telling you about me is probably only half true.” Suddenly, asking Ted out to a movie DID seem like stalking, especially now that he was already accused of it, but he had come in with a plan and he was going to go ahead and put it into play. “So, uh, not to confirm your fears or anything, but actually I did come in tonight with a list of movie times and a plan to ask you when you get off…”

Ted hummed and cocked his head. “So a man who’s been coming in all week because I didn’t recognize him and then sitting in the corner like a creeper staring at me wants me to go out with him to a movie where I might never be seen or heard from again…”

“I wasn’t staring at you, I was checking emails too. You must have just looked at me while I was looking at you. And how do you know I was staring at you unless you were staring at me?”

Bea chuckled. “He got you.”

“Hey! I was keeping an eye on you after Bea told me you were creeping on me! And also a little bit because you’re cute.”

Booster grinned. “So? What time do you get off?”

Bea grabbed a broom and shoved it at Ted. “He can get off in an hour if he sweeps up and does some cleaning, but you owe me, Boost.”

Booster and Ted grinned at each other. “Anything you want, Bea.”


End file.
